The effect of fibre-bundling on the mechanical properties of a short-fibre composite

摘要

The effect of fibre-bundling on the tensile modulus and tensile strength of short carbon fibre reinforced polypropylene compsite materials has been investigated. The fibre was either filamentised or in bundles of 6000 fibres. Materials containing 0 percent, 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent and 100 percnet of the fibres in bundles were produced. It was found that fibre-bundling leads to a significant reduction in both the tensile modulus and tensile strength compared with the fully filamentised composite. The reduced reinforcing efficiency of fibre bundles compared to individual fibres has been estimated using the Cox model. This approach gives reasonable agreement with the experimental modulus of laminates containing only filamentised fibres or only fibre bundles, but overestimates the modulus of laminates containing a mixture of fibres and bundles.